Unicast and multicast IP communication has achieved wide popularity in contexts where multiple mobile devices are used within an enterprise. Push-to-talk (PTT) is one of the more requested features in markets that require the integration of traditional walkie-talkie functionality into powerful mobile data devices, and whose primary voice requirement is one-to-many paging and one-to-one direct local dialing.
Presently known IP unicast and multicast systems are undesirable in a number of respects. For example, there are many organizations where employees are located within a wireless local area network (WLAN) for part of the day, and outside the local area network (i.e., within a WAN) for the rest of the day. While it is possible to tie PSTN and VOIP networks to provide walkie-talkie functionality between the WLAN and WAN, such solutions require the use of additional servers and other infrastructure, and do not provide a seamless communication experience to the user.
Accordingly, there is a need for seamless, serverless integration of multicast/unicast functionality in both WAN and WLAN environments. Other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.